CNN’s POLITICAL GUT CHECK | for July 16, 2014 | 5 p.m.
— n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

GOP ALLEGES EX-OBAMA OFFICIAL BROKE LAW ON POLITICAL ACTIVITY ... Ramping up his investigation of the White House and whether it illegally used government staff for political purposes, House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa released audio of a 2012 voicemail message that his office says depicts then-Labor Secretary Hilda Solis asking an employee working for her to contribute money and recruit others to attend a fundraiser for the pro-Obama Organizing For America. In a release, the committee called the phone message a clear violation of the Hatch Act, which limits political activity for government officials. – Lisa DesjardinsFollow @GutCheckCNNFollow @sarafischerLAWMAKERS CONTEMPLATE REVERSING IMMIGRATION LAW ...In 2008, Congress passed a law to protect immigrant children from sex traffickers trying to bring them to the United States by requiring judges to hold hearings for children from any country except Canada and Mexico, preventing them from possibly getting turned away at the border. Now some in Congress want to change the law - a possibility that could bring more unintended consequences. – Tom Cohen

... PELOSI REVERSES IMMIGRATION DECISION: Last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters that adding a provision changing the 2008 law to the border funding bill was “not a deal breaker.” But on Wednesday, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said she now “opposes this legislation as it is not in furtherance of due process for these children.” Hammill says Pelosi believes that if any changes to the law are made, they must ensure due process for children being held in detention facilities at the border.

ON THE LEFT ... O’MALLEY DEFENDS BORDER CRITICISM:Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley defended his criticism of Obama administration plans to return thousands of undocumented children to Central America, even after his remarks sparked a heated discussion with a senior White House official. In an interview with CNN, O'Malley acknowledged that he asked White House domestic policy adviser Cecilia Muñoz that the immigrants not be sent to a site in western Maryland that was under consideration. "What I said was that would not be the most inviting site in Maryland. There are already hundreds of kids already located throughout Maryland," O'Malley said of his phone conversation with Munoz. – Jim Acosta

ON THE RIGHT ... CHRISTIE BETWEEN 'THE ROCK' AND A HARD PLACE:Aiming to promote state pension reform while having a little fun, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie released a flashy faux movie trailer – and then abruptly yanked it just hours after its YouTube debut on Tuesday. When asked by CNN's Jake Tapper why it was inexplicably removed, a spokesperson for Christie joked, "it was too much pain for The Rock." A source said Christie's office was actually forced to remove the video after Hollywood attorneys phoned to discuss its use of film clips. – Jake Tapper and Jessica Stanton

2016 CHECKBOOK: SUPER PAC PLANNING TO BACK HILLARY IN 2016 TOUTS TINY HAUL ...You don't see this every day. Priorities USA, the leading Democratic super PAC that supported President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election and is planning to back Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign if she runs, announced that it raised just $1,845 over the past three months. – Paul Steinhauser

... WHILE LESSER-KNOWN PRO-WARREN GROUP ANNOUNCES $1M PULL:The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, major backer of Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, said it raised over $1 million this campaign cycle. The report comes a day before the kickoff of Netroots Nation, the largest annual gathering of progressives in the country.– Paul Steinhauser

2016 CALENDAR: CHRISTIE TO IOWA THURSDAY ...Chris Christie's jam packed swing through Iowa on Thursday is advertised as being all about the 2014 midterm elections. But the visit by the Republican governor of New Jersey and potential GOP presidential contender has plenty of 2016 implications, as Christie tries to get beyond a bridge controversy back home in the Garden State that's diminished his political standing. – Paul Steinhauser

... RUBIO TO COURT SOUTH CAROLINA CONSERVATIVES IN AUGUST: Marco Rubio, the Florida senator and possible White House contender, will court some of the Republican Party’s most conservative voters with a visit to South Carolina next month. Rubio has been booked as the keynote speaker at Rep. Jeff Duncan’s annual Faith and Freedom Barbecue in Anderson on August 25, a GOP source familiar with the plans told CNN. – Peter Hamby

THE BUZZ: HILLARY CLINTON ALLUDES TO WANTING AN OVAL OFFICE ...When Jon Stewart gave Hillary Clinton a career aptitude test on the “Daily Show” Tuesday night, her answers alluded to a presidential bid. The former secretary of state, senator, and first lady told the Comedy Central host that she wants a home office. "Do you have a favorite shape for that home office? Would you like it to have corners?" he asked her. "Fewer corners," said Clinton. – Gabe Lamonica

MARKET WATCH: Dow ends at record high on China growth and merger talk. Time Warner shares climb 17% after Fox bid revealed.

TRAIL TRIVIA(Answer Below)
What is the name of Martin O’Malley’s Celtic rock band?

the LEDEDid you miss it?

Leading CNNPolitics:Senate Democrats to back House highway bill
The highway funding crisis is about to end. (For now.) Senate Democratic leaders have agreed to pass a nearly $11 billion House measure that would extend the life of the Highway Trust Fund through next spring, CNN has learned. – Lisa Desjardins

Leading CNNMoney: Midterm elections aren't good for stocks
Lawmakers in Washington are preparing to hit the campaign trail full-time in August. That's typically not great news for the stock market. Historically, midterm elections have not been kind to stocks, according to research released earlier this year by Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ. Going back nearly 70 years, Stovall said the S&P 500 has suffered its worst six-month period of any four-year presidential term in the second and third quarters of a midterm election year. – Ben Rooney

Leading Des Moines Register:'Iowans 4 Joe Manchin' adds another Democratic name to 2016 mix
here may be another Democrat on the Iowa horizon as the wait for Hillary Clinton's decision continues. A "Iowans 4 Joe Manchin" Twitter page says it's organized by "Iowans ready to support U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin if we successfully draft him to run for president of the United States in 2016. Draft Joe!" – Jenifer Jacobs

Leading HuffPo: Koch Heads: How The Koch Brothers Are Buying Their Way Into The Minds Of Public School Students
The official mission of Youth Entrepreneurs is to provide kids with "business and entrepreneurial education and experiences that help them prosper and become contributing members of society." The underlying goal of the program, however, is to impart Koch's radical free-market ideology to teenagers. In the last school year, the class reached more than 1,000 students across Kansas and Missouri. – Christina Wilkie and Joy Resmovitz

Leading Drudge: Animals Feast On Body Of Dead Migrant
The death march through Brooks County, Texas, claimed the life of yet another illegal immigrant. A human skull and the decomposed skeletal remains are all that is left of a person who decided to come to this country illegally. A total of 42 bodies have been found this year in the desert-like ranch fields surrounding the town of Falfurrias. – Breitbart’s Bob Price

Leading Politico: Behind the GOP focus on Obamacare
Proving that Obama misused his executive power is a long shot, most Republicans privately concede. Some even say that it is simply a way to quiet down the growing number of fringe Republicans who have said the party should move to impeach the president ... But senior GOP leadership aides describe a deliberate effort behind the scenes that they say gives them a fighting chance of defeating a sitting president in court. – Jake Sherman and Lauren French

Leading New York Times: Pelosi, in Reversal, Says She Opposes Speeding Child Deportations
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, reversed course on Wednesday and said she would not back changes to a 2008 law that gave certain undocumented immigrant children broader legal rights to enter the United States. – Jonathan Weisman

- Boehner fires back at Obama’s criticism about GOP not doing its jobs and quoting Mark Wahlberg in “The Departed” -HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER IN AN OP-ED FOR NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: “Rather than trawling through IMDB for partisan attack lines, President Obama ought to pick up the telephone and call the Senate Democratic leaders who are blocking nearly 40 House-passed bills to help our economy growing and create more American jobs.”

- CDC director: Dozens of anthrax exposures 'never should have happened' -CDC DIRECTOR DR. TOM FRIEDEN IN A TESTIMONY BEFORE AN ENERGY AND COMMERCE SUBCOMMITTEE: "What happened was completely unacceptable. ... It never should have happened. ... We must do that work more safely, and we will."

- Kerry on Middle East peace talks: We’re working on it - SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT: "Well, our concern is to have a legitimate cease-fire and see if we can find a way to stop the conflict and killing so that we can get to the real issues that are underlying it and we're doing everything in our power, I've been in touch with Prime Minister Netanyahu with the Egyptians ... and with others in the region. And we'll continue to dialogue on it I'll be seeing the president today we'll talk about it later."

- Clinton: 60% of Israelis would support peace agreement with the Palestinians -FORMER PRESIDENT CLINTON IN AN INTERVIEW WITH NDTV IN INDIA: “Hamas was perfectly well aware of what would happen if they started reigning rockets into Israel. They fired 1,000 of them. And they have a strategy designed to force Israel to kill their own civilians so that the rest of the world will condemn them. I believe that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu could and should make a comprehensive peace agreement with the Palestinians. I believe if he did it, and he did with either(Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud) Abbas or with this coalition in return for Hamas’ renunciation of terror and recognition of Israel’s right to exist, I believe 60 percent of the people of Israel will support it.”

- Kashkari on Illegal immigrant children: Send them home safely -NEEL KASHKARI IN AN INTERVIEW WITH BREITBART:“We have to send these kids home, safely and compassionately," he said. "I come at this from the perspective of a son of immigrants. I believe immigrants add value, and that we are a nation of immigrants. I favor immigration reform. Yet I see these waves of kids coming, and it's shocking to me, and it shows if you do create incentives people respond to that."

- Former official: There’s less camaraderie in Washington when there’s less booze -FORMER ASST. ATTORNEY GENERAL WALTER DELLINGER AT A RULES COMMITTEE HEARING: “My job was to be the bartender. We had as many Republicans as Democrats drinking at Frank Thompson’s bar. And I think the amount of drinking has gone down considerably since I was an intern here which is good, but I think the amount of camaraderie has decreased though.”

When he’s not working his day job leading his state, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley spends his time as the front man for his band, “O'Malley's March.” The band describes itself as “an American Irish folk rock band from Maryland” on its Facebook page and lists O’Malley as the lead vocalist, acoustic guitarist, songwriter, and tin whistle player.

O'Malley suggested the White House leaked word of his phone call with Munoz in retaliation for his remarks.

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Another example of the vindictive, "you reward your friends and punish your enemies" way this administration conducts business. And this charge comes from a democrat (but he's white, so I guess he just can't stand blah blah blah, right sniffit?).

July 16, 2014 05:59 pm at 5:59 pm |

Silence DoGood

@an Iowan
"Boehner fires back at Obama’s criticism about GOP not doing its job"
Well, gee Mr. Speaker.....you haven't done your job in 7 years!!!!
------------
Saying NO to everything and not doing your job Mr. Speaker.
In private industry you would be fired.
In Congress you should be impeached for violating the reason people sent you there.

July 16, 2014 06:08 pm at 6:08 pm |

Jeff Brown in Jersey

House Oversight car thief and arsonist is investigating... Of course he is!

July 16, 2014 07:51 pm at 7:51 pm |

rick

Its realy amazing how out of reality Hillary realy is.! Saing that americans should BELIEVE IN AMERICA AGAIN! We WOULD if people like her didnt keep constantly LIEING about everything going on.. Its not we dont believe in America.. We DONT BELIEVE IN HER CONSTANT LIES.. Thats the difference.. She IS NOT the american dream! Only HER VIEW is the dream she is trying to push..

July 16, 2014 07:53 pm at 7:53 pm |

Patriot

Michelle Bachman's "concern" aside, rest assured that Hillary Clinton will be the Democrat nominee in 2016 – assuming she chooses to run. Republicans, of course, would love it if Elizabeth Warren mounted a serious challenge to Hillary, but there's no way that Warren is going to pull off another miracle like Obama did in 2008. I do think it's likely that Clinton could choose Warren as her running mate. That would be an extremely formidable combination.

July 17, 2014 01:37 am at 1:37 am |

J.V.Hodgson

40 jobs bills? Name me one which did not have attached to it a repeal of some or all of PPACA or was not reducing taxes for the rich 1%... or any other version of trickle down economics which is already proved does not work.
Regards,
Hodgson

July 17, 2014 02:16 am at 2:16 am |

Thomas

"Boehner fires up a cigaret and heads to the golf course for a round on the tax payer" , Saying , why would I think about retirement when there is so much work to be done .

At a press meeting earlier this week , Boehner blamed the president for the drought in California , the flood of illegals on the border, MidEast peace failure , violence in Iraq, the failure of for profit universities and the over crowded VA hospitals , With tears in his eyes , the speaker once again Asked , WHERE ARE THE
JOBS Mr. President , where are the jobs ?